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Wanderlei Silva wants a 'full 30 minutes' to fight Chael Sonnen

I'm only waiting for the date and the location. Because the people want this fight and I want this fight. Sonnen, I will beat you up you coward. Why are you my fan? It's because I fight with all my heart. I don't go in there to give up. Like Sonnen did against Jones in the very first round. Like he did against Anderson, when he took a knee to the chest and stayed down like a little girl.
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You won the fight against Shogun by luck, because Shogun was going to beat you up. You were very lucky to have caught him in that guillotine. But with me you will get punched in the face. I will go into this fight not only to fight, but to hurt you. I won't do it fast either. I want a 5 round main event. I don't want just a co-main event fight, I want a full 30 minutes to punch your face.

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You butt face. With me it's face to face. I am for real. I don't say things only for the cameras. I will say it to your face. If Dana White receives one million messages tomorrow, do you think this fight won't happen?

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So what did we learn? Wanderlei Siva
You will get a beating. I will hurt you, I will break your nose with my knee. From there you will go straight to the surgeon to fix your nose. I will break your nose in this fight.

So when Wandy is on crutches he threatens Sonnen, but when he has the opportunity to have a sanctioned fight against Sonnen, he has stipulations. What a legendary warrior badass!

in the street fight situation you're discussing, there were absolutely no rules or stipulations. There was nothing to gain or lose but the perception of honor.

once you add any degree of rules, sonnen is at an advantage, both in the cage, and financially. Wandi is looking to maximize his reward for increasing his risk.

Before you flame me take off your rose colored glasses, and ponder these few questions.

1) If the roles were reversed would you still feel the way you do?

yes. I feel like sonnen literally represents everything that I despise about the current state of a UFC-driven MMA industry. But I don't have a problem giving him credit where it's due, or feeling like he should be paid well for his efforts.

2) do you think Sonnen would pull this?

I have no doubt sonnen would pull this, particularly if the situation were reversed, as you've postulated.

3) if Wandy wants to put Sonnen in his place so badly, why would he pick now to make this demand?

Because he wants to get paid commensurate to what he's done for the sport.

Like it or not, Wandi has accomplished 10x more than sonnen has in his career. He's held major titles, he's defended them. sonnen has rehearsed outdated WWF speeches and applied them to a new and ignorant audience. He's selling PPV buys to fights he does not win. He's anything but original, and he's still only now--in the twilight of his career--becoming anything other than a one trick pony. He's a proven liar and a cheat.

Faced with all of those things and the added structure of bullshit unified rules, terrible officiating and worse judging--not to mention an entirely arbitrary payscale--I don't have a problem with Wandi being an advocate for himself.

rh

All manner of men came to work for the News: everything from wild young Turks who wanted to rip the world in half and start all over again -- to tired, beer-bellied old hacks who wanted nothing more than to live out their days in peace before a bunch of lunatics ripped the world in half.

The way I view the "street fight" situation is that Wandy was posturing when he know a fight wasn't gonna happen (no same high profile fighter is going to get into a street fight with a guy on crutches), but when the same guy that he was threating calls him out, he is the one that treats it like a business (which it is). It's kinda like someone saying "I'll kick your ass" on Facebook, and then threatening to call the cops if you suggest a meeting place. I have nothing against a guy trying to get his fair shake, but the timing for such demands is just odd considering his documented feelings towards his prospective opponent.

Riv, I completely respect your opinion, but I am going to have to graciously disagree with you on if Sonnen would do this. While I make absolutely no claims that Sonnen is the picture of integrity, he has shown time and time again that he will fight anyone at any time, and to the best of my knowledge he has never made any public salary demands or complaints.

I understand wanting to get paid for what you have did, and as I have said I have no problem with a person getting what they deserve. I just think that given the circumstances this is incredibly odd timing for such hold ups. I am not a fighter, but if I was, and I was in this situation, nothing would stop me from taking this fight. I am not being an internet badass, I seriously believe if I had Wandy's skill and I felt as disrespected as Wandy claims to be then this fight would happen. Be a business man if you want and be a warrior if you want, but combining them in this particular way seems sleazy to me.

The final point I would like to make is that in sports, athletes generally get paid for their future potential, and not their past accomplishments. That isn't to say that their past doesn't play a part in their future pay, but the bulk of the decision is based on potential future output. Tony Gonzalez is probably the greatest tightend of all time, but the Falcons would be fools to sign him to anything close to what his past numbers should garner at least for more than a year to year contract (just an example, I realize he is retiring after this year).

Sorry I didn't quote you, Riv. It is too much of a pain in the ass to do from my phone.

The way I view the "street fight" situation is that Wandy was posturing when he know a fight wasn't gonna happen (no same high profile fighter is going to get into a street fight with a guy on crutches), but when the same guy that he was threating calls him out, he is the one that treats it like a business (which it is). It's kinda like someone saying "I'll kick your ass" on Facebook, and then threatening to call the cops if you suggest a meeting place. I have nothing against a guy trying to get his fair shake, but the timing for such demands is just odd considering his documented feelings towards his prospective opponent.

that scenario has nothing to do with keyboard warriors. Wandi was there, flesh and blood, there wasn't anywhere else to go. Whether sonnen was going to fight outside of a cage with rules and refs is beside the point--Wandi was illustrating that talking [and here is your keyboard kowboy konnection, if any can possibly be made] is entirely different from backing it up. It's one thing to sell a fight, to say stupid shit that you don't even mean to get attention from people with the sense of humor of the average 7th grade boy...but that doesn't mean that there is no potential for accountability. You're still looking at the whole thing as though the policies imposed by unified rules define someone's manhood, or whether they're willing to fight or not.

Wandi does not see things that way. If sonnen had twitched, he would have fought him, crutches or not, and he wasn't thinking of the consequences of getting suspended from the UFC. He wasn't thinking, period...beyond holding someone accountable for talking shit about his country and his friends.

Riv, I completely respect your opinion, but I am going to have to graciously disagree with you on if Sonnen would do this. While I make absolutely no claims that Sonnen is the picture of integrity, he has shown time and time again that he will fight anyone at any time, and to the best of my knowledge he has never made any public salary demands or complaints.

You said if the situation were reversed.

If sonnen wasn't getting paid, he would do what he had to do to get paid. He's already illustrated that by laundering money, by juicing for the biggest fight of his career.

You're welcome to your opinion that sonnen is more of a fight-anyone-anywhere type of guy than Wandi. I'm betting your understanding of Wandi is predicated on watching him in the UFC, or skimming old PRIDE vids. That would be erroneous--this is a guy who made his bones fighting multiple times in one night. Who sees the unified rules as the bullshit hindrance they are. I'm not even a big Wandi fan, but anyone questioning Wandi's heart has no understanding of him at all. Are you forgetting that he's fought on short notice for the UFC as well?

As far as getting paid for what he did, as opposed to what he's doing, Wandi is a huge name in the UFC. Name a UFC card he fought on that he wasn't a headliner or billed immediately preceeding Championship bouts. He's still a draw, he's still favorite for OTN bonuses.

If dana wasn't an asshole, he'd pay him what he deserves. If dana wasn't a petty, selfish prick, he'd keep business private and wouldn't put one side of the story on twitter for ignorant fans to misinterpret.

rh

All manner of men came to work for the News: everything from wild young Turks who wanted to rip the world in half and start all over again -- to tired, beer-bellied old hacks who wanted nothing more than to live out their days in peace before a bunch of lunatics ripped the world in half.